


Not Ever After

by DissociatingGhost



Category: Gintama
Genre: Biased Characters, F/F, Fairytale Gone Wrong AU, Gen, Medieval Society, Role Reversal, T for curses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:55:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27255292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DissociatingGhost/pseuds/DissociatingGhost
Summary: Soyo can't help but be in awe of the cursed princess wreaking havoc around the town. Kagura was never good at being a damsel in distress, after all.
Relationships: Kagura & Tokugawa Soyo, Kagura/Tokugawa Soyo
Comments: 5
Kudos: 12





	Not Ever After

**Author's Note:**

> Some old stuff, which started with some prompt about villains, somehow turned into this. Not for a devoted fan of classical tales? Very much no beta;)

Sweet, lingering on the tongue, taste of red apples, or sour, contrasting starkly against the pastry, of yellow ones? Soyo hovered over the stall, weighing her options. She found a certain pleasure in paying attention to small everyday details; no matter Shige and she most often were the only ones enjoying her bakings.

“The witch!” The roar behind her pulled her out of her lazy afternoon musings. “Stop her!”

She frowned and turned around just to see a flash of red hair down the street.

She held her breath. It was _her_.

“Move! “ Town guards were hot on the heels of young woman, pushing and elbowing making their way through the crowd. “The wench did it again!”

The murmur raised among the market.

“The possessed excuse of a princess,” someone explained to their neighbor.” The one who must have been in cahoots with the devil himself to break the curse, damn -”

-No, the one who outsmarted them all and didn’t let close up her in a castle for a hundred years.

“The things she has done, on a stake with her! “ yelled a shopkeeper next to her.

Oh really, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor - someone could think it was worthy of some ballads to be told and sung in taverns; there bards crafted stories about adventures of various troublemakers outsmarting law and challenging their destiny, after all.

“Oh right, your cousin’s family!“ She gasped at the shopkeeper. “How are they? Weren’t they sick?”

The man for a moment looked uncomfortable.

She knew they had already recovered, had seen the children chasing each other around the town, carefree and wild as if they haven't just escaped from the clutches of the death.

They both knew who had saved them when their baron left them to die; who had paid for expensive medicine.

 _The damn wench._  
.  
“They are fine.” He cleared his throat and ducked his head under the stall, busying himself with unpacking his products.

She hid her smile putting yellow apples into the basket. Asking uncomfortable questions with the innocent face was her specialty, after all, and - let’s be honest - a secret joy.

That was the least she could do.

"Ha!" someone behind her cried out. "The witch will not escape now!"

 _Oh no_. She spun around. In a beat she felt her stomach drop - in the direction the princess headed, a wooden bridge spanned the river, and some town inhabitants blocked it, with determined looks on their faces holding their ground against the girl sprinting toward them.

Before she knew it, Soyo dashed across the market. With no idea what she intended - _could_ \- to do. Out of breath, her side aching, she stopped dead in her tracks at the foot of the bridge.

Amazed.

Mesmerized, she watched the princess - the warrior- kick off in the air, twist her torso, and send two opponents flying with a fast-as-lightning swirl of her legs.

For a split moment, the motion revealed a strange scar on her cheek, and then she landed behind them on the bridge to sweep the other two off the feet with one kick.

Thorns, some said, were the reason the princess had awakened before the destined time.

Over the years a hedge had overgrown a sleeping castle - the dark tangle of leaves and spikes. According to some, it had broken through the window of the room where the princess had laid asleep. There, it reached her bed. It prickled her skin, its poison soiled her blood and in the end, it jolted her awake - the pain of thorns growing into her flesh. It drove her crazy, turned once beautiful princess into a bloodthirsty beast.

The first time Soyo had heard the story, she scowled. Did they really need some tall tale to explain someone’s desire to escape their less than desirable predicament? Was it difficult to imagine that the princess could be fed up with the reality where her only rescue was waiting for some stranger kissing her unconscious and then promptly marrying her? _Was this really unthinkable that she could break the curse on her own?_

Who knew what images she had behind her lids when she slept for years; were her dreams peaceful? Or nightmares, pushing her over the edge to wake up in a sweat?

Besides, _had they seen her?_ Or their fear clouded their vision too? She followed the girl leaping over the fallen men with her eyes - lean and graceful, she was a force of nature. _Stunning_.

Then, a few things happened at once. The princess was about to swing herself over the bridge railing and escape into the water below when one of the fallen men found his bearings and reached out to grab her leg, and pull and throw to the ground-

Unfortunately to him, the basket filled with apples fell from Soyo’s hands, and they spilled all over the bridge. The man tripped and lost his balance, and the warrior princess slipped away once again.

Before that - Soyo could swear- she sent a little smile her way.

“Oh, so clumsy of me!” Soyo rushed to help out cursing loudly men. In the process, she blocked out the view on a riverside and almost knocked out the most hardheaded man with her basket. _Really, so clumsy!_

Focusing on gathering the trampled apples, she tried not to think about heat creeping up her cheeks.


End file.
